City Lumberton, Texas | Format Silent | |
Broadcast area Beaumont, Texas, Lumberton, Texas, Golden Triangle Frequency 1300 AM (kHz) C-QUAM AM Stereo First air date December 31, 1959 (as KKAS Silsbee, Texas) Power 2,000 watts day
270 watts night | ||
KLLS 1300 AM is a radio station licensed to Lumberton, Texas. The station is owned by Christopher Boone, through licensee Southeast Texas Telecom, LLC (FCC Approval and consummation of the sale took place August 10, 2015).
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As of June 2016, KLLS has re-introduced AM stereo (Motorola's C-QUAM system) and relaunched classic Top 40, now branding as Music Radio Double-L S. On February 17, 2017 KLLS went silent.
History
1300 was originally licensed to Hardin County Broadcasting, on December 31, 1959. The call sign assigned to the new station was KKAS and it was licensed to Silsbee, Texas at 500 watts. The KKAS studios were located at the transmitter site which (as the FCC described as) Highway 327, 3 miles west of the center of Silsbee. Eventually KKAS acquired an FM on 101.7, and was sold to Cumulus in 2004 which became KAYD-FM.
2000
On January 31, 2000, KKAS changed its callsign to KSET.
2011
KSET was moved to Lumberton in 2011, with the construction of a four-tower directional array, KSET was able to become a full Beaumont–Port Arthur station. Also in 2011, KSET changed format to news talk, and was successful as a locally owned station, carrying mostly local talk programming, and some national such as The Dennis Miller Show. The station was shut down unexpectedly due to the ownership having financial problems (due to things other than the radio station itself) and was off the air for just about a year. It returned to the airwaves and was billed as "Freedom 1300" and again started its efforts to be a successful station, to be thwarted by money problems and a lack of support from the owners.
2014
On May 10, 2014, KSET filed a Special Temporary Authority with the FCC to go silent for one year.
2015
On May 11, 2015, KSET filed with the FCC to resume operations and sign back on the air. Also in May, the pending sale to Southwest Texas Telecom LLC was announced. On July 11, KSET returned to the air with music briefly, testing the directional antenna and C-Quam equipment. The test revealed a problem with the stereo exciter and KSET concluded testing. On July 31, testing of the KSET facility resumed, making the final preparations for the station before its targeted mid-late August launch as "Musicradio 1300" carrying the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network. Former WLS DJ and current voice/DJ on WLS-FM, Jeff Davis is the Voice of Musicradio 1300. The FCC approved the transfer of control on August 10 and the sale was consummated that afternoon with paperwork filed with the FCC that evening.
2016
On April 8, 2016, KSET went silent due to transmitter damage from lightning. The station changed its call sign to KLLS (a tribute to Chicago radio station WLS as Double-L S ) on May 17, 2016. As of June 26, 2016, KLLS has returned to the airwaves, broadcasting a classic hits music format with AM Stereo coming online the next day, branding itself as "Musicradio Double-L S".
2017
On February 17, 2017 KLLS went silent.